The present invention relates to a shell for sports shoes, particularly for Telemark skiing.
Telemark skiing, also known as ski-touring, entails performing turns with the ski by bending both knees and lifting the heel of the uphill leg.
This kind of skiing therefore entails the need to provide shoes which have a flexible sole; this characteristic, however, leads to a second technical problem, which is the use of a shoe which has maximum torsional rigidity in order to be able to perform good ski control.
Moreover, another characteristic that the shoe must have for Telemark skiing is to be as lightweight as possible, since the physical movement consumes considerable energy.
Another problem that shoes used for Telemark skiing must solve is durability, since due to the continuous flexings there are regions, such as the metatarsal one, which are subject to considerable wear and to breakage if the shoes are made of leather or other natural material.
It is known to use, for other kinds of skiing but not for Telemark skiing, shells made of plastics which are substantially constituted by a sole from which a lateral surface protrudes and wraps around the entire foot of the user; a quarter is articulated to said shell.
The use of plastics allows to increase torsional rigidity but does not allow to achieve flexibility of the shell; this prevents the transfer of this technology to Telemark skiing, which as mentioned entails using non-synthetic material, which is subject to considerable wear and breakage, to make the shoe.